This invention relates to interactive television program guides, and more particularly, to television program guides with a display screen that may be used when browsing for available television programs. A program list and an associated video window may be displayed in the display screen at the same time.
Cable, satellite, and broadcast television systems provide viewers with a large number of television channels. Viewers have traditionally consulted printed television program schedules to determine the programs being broadcast at a particular time. More recently, interactive electronic television program guides have been developed that allow television program information to be displayed on a viewer's television.
Interactive program guides are typically implemented on set-top boxes. Such program guides allow users to view television program listings in different display formats. For example, a user may instruct the program guide to display a grid or table of program listings organized in a channel-ordered or a time-ordered list. Users may also search and sort program listings by genre (e.g., movies, sports, etc.) or by title (i.e., alphabetically). A user may obtain additional information for a program by placing a highlight region on a desired program listing and pressing an “info” button. The user may purchase a pay program from the program guide by placing the highlight region on a program listing and pressing an “OK” button. Some systems allow the user to select a program for recording by placing the highlight region on a program listing and pressing a “record” button.
Some program guides allow users to display a list of current programming on the user's display screen as an overlay on top of a television channel. With one such system, the user may scroll a highlight region through the list of programming while monitoring the program to which the system is tuned in a quarter-screen window. A description of the highlighted program may also be provided.
This type of system always maintains the video for the television channel and the text of the description in complete synchronization with the highlighted program. Whenever the highlight region is repositioned on a new program listing, the system automatically tunes to the television channel for that program. The user cannot browse through the program listings without loosing track of what is on the channel to which the user was originally tuned. Moreover, the program list that this type of system displays has cells of program information for programs that are scheduled to be broadcast in the future as well as current programs, which tends to clutter the display.
Another program guide feature that allows users to display current programming information as an overlay on top of a television channel is the so-called browse feature available in some program guides. With this type of arrangement, the user is only presented with the title of a single program listing, so that the user cannot review a number of listings at a time. The title information also obscures a portion of the television channel being broadcast, which interferes with the user's ability to monitor that channel. No program descriptions are listed on the browse display screen. If the user is interested in a program title listed on the browse display, the user may tune to that channel by pressing a select key. However, this will cause the program guide to exit the browse mode.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a program guide system with improved browsing capabilities.